Something for the weekend – A proper smartphone collection

It’s been 14 years now. Can you believe it? It all started on my CupOfCoffee personal blog and then, just a few months after, I registered this domain in February 2003. It’s been a wild ride. I’ve seen mobile companies come and go, networks merge and operating systems evolve and vanish too.

My daily life usually involves several dozen emails from a stack of accessory companies, software houses, networks and manufacturers, but one email in particular stood out. It was from a guy called Tom. This is the sort of email that drives me on really, and it goes like this..

My son is obsessed with phones and has just bought the original SPV phone (HTC Canary) at a car boot sale, albeit without a charger. We’ve been struggling with finding a charger (the ones on ebay seem to be micro usb chargers which won’t) and wonder if you could help us find one.

Wowser. The original Orange SPV. This was made by HTC and was the first big push into “smartphones” (not PDA’s) for the company. It had a few issues, such as the earpiece letting dust in which then traveled to the screen, but it was a massive leap ahead for mobile phones. I was carrying a Nokia at the time. Polyphonic ringtones, no camera, no colour screen and no apps. Then, with the advent of the SPV, it all changed. You could watch video, you could upload your own backdrop and your own ringtones – for free. Sure, it didn’t have a camera at that point (What?! Are you mad?!) but it was still the gadget that caused this site to come into existence.

Tom’s son, who’s only 7, is called Edwino. As you can see, he has a fantastic collection of around 25 old phones. It’s great to see. So many kids today would be strapped to an iPhone or an iPad. A collection of this size and quality is something to be proud of, and he’s even got a phone from 1995!